To vote or not to vote that is the question...

The aspect of U.S. Government I’ve decided to write my commentary about is voting. I figured that this was a fitting subject since this is a presidential election year. The textbook, We the People, offered a lot of information about the history of voting and its processes. Some processes many of us find confusing. Like the whole vote and the come back later and caucus deal that went on during the primaries. Suffrage, which is the right to vote, has been subject to many changes over the years. At first it was only extend to property-owning males, then to property less men, soon after women were allowed to vote and ultimately African Americans were granted the right to vote.

This year I almost did not vote because I failed to keep up with registration deadlines. This is part of the reason the text states contributes to low voter turnout in the U.S. Other reasons listed are the frequency of elections, ballot counting procedures and the fact that there is no clear cut difference between the political parties. In regards to ballot counting the text recounted the events surrounding the 2000 elections, which I find discouraging. The text states that although over one hundred million votes were officially recorded being cast for president; more than two million other votes were cast but not counted. Why were they not counted? They were spoiled for some reason or another. Because of situations like this, I believe that the Government needs to invest in adequate machinery for all areas so that every single vote is being counted.

According to the text young adults are less likely to vote than middle-aged citizens or senior citizens. Citizens under thirty have the lowest turnout rate of any major demographic group. This by the way is the demographic group I belong to. However, I vote because I care about the issues at hand and how they affect my children and I. The text goes on to talk about the media and the role they play in the whole process. They mention MTV and their effort to reach out to those under thirty and urge them to go out and vote. I actually think that it is a clever concept and MTV’s political coverage is quite interesting. I watch their programming and find it nice to see them use people I can relate to.

Well I close my blog with this… Get out and vote.

Excessively Paid Executives

Awhile back President Bush signed a bill increasing the federal minimum wage over the next three years. On July 24, 2007 it was increased to $5.85 per hour. On July 24, 2008 it will increase to $6.55 per hour and then to $7.25 per hour in 2009. These increases are valuable to many struggling American households. Currently there are three men being questioned by Congress that made what those households would make in a full year in a matter of minutes.

I was appalled after reading the article, “Chiefs' Pay Under Fire at Capitol” posted by The New York Times. The article raises the question of whether top executives are paid excessively especially when compared to others in the work force. Currently three former top financial executives are being questioned about their substantial compensation while they were on the job even while the banks were in turmoil.

The three men – E. Stanley O’Neal, Charles O. Prince III and Angelo R. Moil went before the House committee on Friday. Some Republicans did not see the point of the hearing; however, the Democrats questioned why the executives were paid well even though their companies were failing.

Mr. O’Neal was the former chairman and chief executive for Merrill Lynch. During his four years with Merrill Lynch he made $70 million, however, when he left in October ’07 he was able to keep $161 million. His exit was considered a retirement, so in this case he did not receive severance pay; however, Merrill Lynch has had more than $10.3 billion in write-offs and their stock prices has fallen dramatically.

Mr. Prince was an executive with Citigroup, where he attained $110 million. When he left Citigroup in November he had an exit package worth $68 million, including another $29.5 million in stock. He also had a pension worth $1.7 million, an office, an assistant, a car and a driver. Reportedly Mr. Prince received a cash bonus in 2007 worth about $10 million. Like, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup had write-offs of about $20 billion and their share has decreased over 60%.

Mr. Mozilo was the founder and chief of Countrywide Financial. His compensation was under the microscope because since he became chief in 1999 he has made more than $410 million. According to a report by the Congressional investigators, Mr. Mozilo’s pay was increased by using flawed peer groups and easy bonus targets. Mr. Mozilo was entitled to a $37.5 million severance package; however, he forfeited this shortly after Congress requested that he testify.

There is something seriously wrong with this scenario. I understand these are top executives we are talking about but, when does their compensation become extreme? $10 million bonus? Is it right that an executive can make more than the average workers’ yearly salary in a matter of minutes? According to the article I mentioned above, Americans astoundingly believe that their business leaders are overpaid. I am interested to see what comes of this inquiry because I do believe that corporate greed is horrible and hopefully something can be done about it.